docs: def read_file(filename):
     """Read contents of the specified file.
  
     Parameters:
     -----------
     filename : str
        The name of the file to be read
  
     Returns:
     lines : list of str
        The contents of the file, split by line
  
     """
  
     infile = open(filename, 'r')
     lines = infile.readlines()
     infile.close()
  
     return lines